by Dave Brikett and Carlos Monarrez, USA TODAY Sports

by Dave Brikett and Carlos Monarrez, USA TODAY Sports

Reggie Bush is a big brother, and a good friend of Brandon Marshall's, so he can relate to what the Chicago Bears receiver was feeling when he lashed out at the Lions and the city of Detroit on Monday.

"Growing up, I was always like the older brother, kind of push (my little brother) around a little bit," Bush said. "And now he's 6-7, so there's no more push him around anymore. He can hang with me. So at some point in time that little brother always grows up and ends up being the bigger brother."

The Lions beat the Bears on Sunday for the second time this year, 21-19, to sweep the season series and take sole possession of first place in the NFC North.

Marshall got into a shouting match with center Dominic Raiola during pregame warm-ups, caught two touchdown passes in the loss, and afterward said he hoped to get revenge against his "little brother" Lions and a team that plays "borderline illegal" in the playoffs.

"It's the little brother that kind of grew up a little bit," Marshall said while he was guest hosting Jay Cutler's radio show on ESPN 1000, according to ESPN.com. "He may be a little taller than the big brother. He's not stronger. He's not better than the big brother at anything. But that one day, he just says, 'I'm fed up. I'm done. I'm gonna punch my brother in the face.' "

Most Lions players were aware of Marshall's comments by the time they finished their walk-through Tuesday, but their reaction was muted.

"I don't really have one," guard Rob Sims said. "We swept them. That's it. I don't really get into that kind of stuff. What he said is what he said. At the end of the day, the W is all that matters. If we do see them in the playoffs, OK, so be it."

"It sounded like he was trying to appease a crowd," Raiola said. "It sounded like a little frustration. You know what, the biggest thing is they got Baltimore this week, they got bigger problems - big problems. We got our own problems. So it's, whatever. We played them. It's over. It's done. We may see them again, I don't know. Nobody knows that. I know we're going to see Pittsburgh this week."

Bush, who played one season with Marshall with the Miami Dolphins in 2011, said Marshall's comments did not come as a surprise, though his shot at Detroit's financial woes was over the top.

In his radio interview, Marshall said the Lions-Bears rivalry is like "the little brother that, big brother wants to go out and play with his friends and the little brother is annoying, (saying), 'Hey, can I go?' "

"No, you can't go, Detroit Lions," Marshall said. "Sit back. Sit in your little city. Fix your financial problems and all of that, you know? You can't come with us right now. But right now, they've got the best of us. They beat us twice. They swept us. But what matters is when we see them in the playoffs. It'll be a great show. It's gonna be tough. But I guarantee it's not gonna go down like it did the first two games."

Marshall also took a shot at Detroit's bankruptcy in a conference call with reporters last week. When one reporter joked that the conference call was collect, Marshall said it might as well be to help Detroit's economy.

"If you want to go after somebody, we're standing right here," Sims said. "We ain't running from nobody, but the city and what it's going through right now, there's no reason to attack that. That's a different situation. A lot of people are hurting off of that, so there's no reason for him to come at that. But that's football, though. Whatever."

Raiola, who has had his run-ins with the Bears in the past, including a back-and-forth with Henry Melton last year over whether the Lions are a dirty team and Melton's worthiness as a Pro Bowler, said he'd welcome a playoff rematch with Chicago if it happens.

The Lions (6-3) would host their first playoff game since 1993 if they win the division. The Bears (5-4) are in still in the wild-card hunt but would need to finish with a better record than the Lions to win the NFC North because of tie-breakers.

"You just got to look who it's coming from," Raiola said. "Everybody's got their own track record, but he's got a track record of his own and you just got to look at the person who it's coming from. Whatever. I know Detroit's making a comeback of their own and we're on the right track and we're just the football team here and he's talking about the financial situation of the city. It has nothing to do with us as a football team. Us as a football team is a reflection of how we are as a city and we've got the city's back, and that's what we're going to keep doing."